"Money mules are recruited, sometimes unwittingly, by criminals to transfer illegally obtained money between different bank accounts," says Action Fraud, the U.K.'s national fraud and cybercrime reporting center. "Money mules receive the stolen funds into their account. They are then asked to withdraw it and wire the money to a different account, often one overseas, keeping some of the money for themselves."

U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team guide to understanding and protecting yourself against money mule schemes.

"The most common money mule solicitations are disguised as 'work from home' opportunities," the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team says in a guide aimed at helping people avoid participating in these crimes.

In some cases, however, money mules can be deployed with counterfeit payment cards to withdraw cash or buy goods that get resold on eBay. In other cases, money mules might be dispatched to withdraw money from malware-infected ATMs.

Don't buy in. "It is imperative that those tempted by such opportunities are acutely aware that such activities fund crime and the penalties for mules can include prison," Samani says. "Criminals are using these individuals, and it's these individuals who take nearly all of the risk." (See Taiwan Sentences Money Mules in ATM Attacks)

"With the support of 257 banks and private sector partners, 1,719 money mule transactions were reported, with total losses amounting to almost €31 million," or $36.6 million, Europol says. "Among those money mule transactions, more than 90 percent were linked to cyber-related crimes, such as phishing, online auction fraud, business email compromise (BEC) and CEO fraud. For the first time, romance scams and holiday fraud - booking fraud - were reported by law enforcement authorities."

"The recent Europol action against money mules reveals that this is a lucrative industry," Samani says.

Source: Europol

Call for Mules

Europol says men are more likely than women to be targeted to serve as money mules, and especially men between 18 and 34 years of age. Newcomers to a country are also prime money mule fodder for cybercriminals, including "the unemployed, students and people in economic distress," Europol says.

About the Author

Schwartz is an award-winning journalist with two decades of experience in magazines, newspapers and electronic media. He has covered the information security and privacy sector throughout his career. Before joining Information Security Media Group in 2014, where he now serves as the executive editor, DataBreachToday and for European news coverage, Schwartz was the information security beat reporter for InformationWeek and a frequent contributor to DarkReading, among other publications. He lives in Scotland.

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